All Called, All Chosen
Luke 5:1-11[1]
I’ve been in ministry
of some form or another for most of my adult life. As many of you know, I spent
25 years working in the Southern Baptist world. In all that time I was never
comfortable with telling people I was a “Baptist minister.” The reason for that
was I knew the label “Baptist minister” would carry some assumptions about me
that I didn’t care for people to make. On the other hand, I’ve never had any
problem introducing myself as a “Presbyterian minister.” I realize that just
the word “minister” means that people are going to make assumptions about me.
But as a Presbyterian I can live with that.
I wonder how
comfortable some of you would feel with the idea of being introduced to a
stranger as a “Presbyterian minister.” You know, we do believe that every
member of a Presbyterian church is called to share in the ministry of the
church. I know that there are other churches out there that still see the
clergy as the only real “ministers” and the people only passively receive the
blessings they distribute. But we believe that the whole people of God are
called to serve. That doesn’t mean everybody is meant to preach or teach, or
that you should run out and sign up for seminary classes. What it means is that
we are all called together to serve the kingdom of God as we follow Jesus. We
are all called, and we are all chosen.
I think that’s one of
the themes from Luke’s unique presentation of Jesus calling the first disciples
in our lesson for today. Jesus called Peter, James, and John just as they were:
“sinful” by Peter’s own admission. They may have seen themselves as unworthy or
unable to fulfill the calling, but that didn’t matter to Jesus. He called them
anyway. And he called fishermen to go out and “catch” people for the kingdom of
God. Although they would later serve as apostles, teachers, and leaders of the
young church in Jerusalem and beyond, they started by fishing for people. All
of this reminds us that God delights in carrying out his work in the world
through those we may see as unlikely, or even unworthy.
It started with Jesus
teaching such a large crowd by the Sea of Galilee that he asked to borrow
Peter’s boat so that he could teach them. Afterwards, he told Peter and the
others, who had finished a long night of backbreaking work with nothing to show
for it, to go back out and try again. I dare say that if any other carpenter
had given these professional fishermen advice on how to do their job, they
would have responded with some choice words. But because it was Jesus, Peter
and the others went back out. I also think it’s important to call attention to
the likelihood that none of them believed for one minute they were going to
catch any fish. They went back out from respect for Jesus, not in faith!
That makes the result even
more impressive. These ordinary fishermen, who would not have laid claim to any
special faith, rough men who knew what it was to work hard all night long, were
the ones Jesus was dealing with. Despite anything they may have lacked in
themselves, Jesus worked the miracle of a catch of fish so large that it
threatened to sink two boats. Now these were boats made for the business of
fishing. I think the point of it all was that catching that many fish was not
something anyone would ever have expected to do. Because these fishermen went
back out “at Jesus’ word” (Lk 5:5), Jesus worked a miracle through them!
The effect on Peter
and the others was overwhelming. Luke says they were “seized with awe” (Lk 5:9)
or as other translators have put it, they “were staggered” (Philips), or they
were “awestruck” (NLT). No wonder Peter “fell to his knees before Jesus” (Lk
5:8, NLT) and said “I am a sinful man.” I think he was keenly aware of his own
unworthiness in the presence of Jesus. But I also think he was overwhelmed by
the unbelievable display of what Jesus could do through someone who was simply willing
to follow him. I think Simon Peter and the others would have considered
themselves the last to be chosen by someone like Jesus, not the first!
I’ve been serving the
church in some way all my adult life, for more than 40 years. And yet, as I
stand before you today, I would say that in my mind, I, Alan Brehm, do not
consider myself worthy of the calling to ministry. The truth that overwhelms me
is that God has called me anyway. The truth about all of us is that God
delights in working through those who think they are unworthy. Regardless of
where you are, regardless of where you’ve been, regardless of where you think
you may be going, Jesus calls each and every one of us to join him in his work.
And if we will just follow him “at his word” like Peter, James, and John did so
long ago, he will do amazing things through us as well.
As I look over a
document like our annual report, I see that many of us are doing just that:
following Jesus “at his word.” We have people who are teaching, we have people
who are preparing meals, we have people who are collecting food, we have people
who are leading worship, we have people who are managing our finances, and we
have people who are taking care of our properties, and that doesn’t begin to
cover all that we are doing. But there’s always more to be done. And the
promise of this passage is that when we do follow Jesus “at his word,” God can
do more than we could ever expect or imagine. At the end of the day, it’s not
about what we think we can or cannot do, but rather it’s about the fact that we
have all been called, and we are all chosen to join in the ministry of God’s
kingdom.
[1] ©
2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph. D. on 2/6/2022 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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